By IANS,
Chennai: The ruling DMK Monday inked a seat-sharing deal with the VCK – a Dalit party – for the ensuing Tamil Nadu assembly polls, taking the number of such deals to three.
DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and VCK chief Thol. Thirumavalavan met here and arrived at the deal.
In 2006, the VCK contested nine seats and won two. This time around it will have one more constituency to contest from.
The DMK had earlier signed an agreement with PMK for 31 seats and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) for three seats.
With 44 seats gone – 10 to VCK, 31 to PMK and three to IUML – there are 190 seats to be shared amongst DMK, Congress and few other parties.
Meanwhile, DMK’s seat sharing talks with its major ally Congress remained inconclusive after the second round Friday.
Further, the DMK on its own should contest from at least 130 seats so as to have a chance of securing majority on its own in the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly.
For the past five years, AIADMK General Secretary J. Jayalalithaa has been calling the DMK government a “minority DMK government”, irking the ruling party that has 99 members in the house and is supported by allies like Congress and VCK.